Peter van Cronenburg started out as a cabinet maker in 1983, specializing in high-end paneling, libraries and interior doors. The bifurcation
to architectural hardware came from the frustration not to find the
exact hardware he wanted to finish his realizations. Most items on
the market were to him too 19th century, with a mechanical finish
and artificial patina. So he started collecting historic pieces in order
to reproduce them. He searched for craftsmen who executed their
work in a traditional way and who shared his vision of esthetics and
craftmanship. Stimulated by some major Belgian architects and their
customers, Peter van Cronenburg enlarged the collection, day by day.

With the same passion as with which he designed custom-made
paneling and libraries using paper and pencil, he developed
new models to respond to esthetical and technical challenges.

Over the years, van Cronenburg has envolved into a high-service company
with its own foundry that delivers high quality hand-made hardware. The
main manufacturing processes are forging and casting (sand casting as
well as ‘cire perdue’), depending on the design and function of the piece.

The roots of a cabinet-making are still present, as his team counts
cabinet makers, who assist in the right choice of hardware on site
or do the installation of the hardware when desired. But the in-
house skills were enlarged with e.g. design specialists (2D and 3D
software), for dynamic prototyping, as well as interior architects.